Training on Ethnic and Gender Issues in Psychiatry Residency ProgramsA National Survey of Residency Training Directors

The goal of this study was to assess psychiatry residency training directors’ perceptions of the training needs of psychiatry residents about ethnic and gender issues and to examine training program characteristics associated with appraisals of greater adequacy of training in these areas. A questionnaire designed to assess perceptions of training needs in ethnicity and gender was developed and completed by 142 psychiatry residency training directors. The training directors’ ratings of their residents’ adequacy of training about ethnic issues in psychiatric practice was significantly related to the residents’ contact with patients of diverse ethnic backgrounds, having coursework addressing ethnic issues included in the residency program, and the percentage of residents of minority ethnic backgrounds included in the program. The training directors’ ratings of their residents’ adequacy of training about gender issues in psychiatric practice was significantly and positively related to having course-work addressing gender issues included in the residency program and was appraised more negatively by the younger residency directors than by the older ones. The residents in psychiatry who are appraised as having the most adequate training in ethnicity and gender issues of their patients are those who received residency course-work on these subjects and are in psychiatry training programs including substantial numbers of minority residents and ample opportunities to work with minority patients.